How to Introduce Infographics to your SEO Strategy

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Ibrahim Kareem is a digital marketing executive at Soap Media, a marketing agency based in the heart of Preston, UK. With over 2 years experience in the professional industry he specializes in Link Acquisition, Outreaching, Social Media Management, Content Creation and SEO in general

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Infographics. Whether you love or hate ‘em, you can’t deny that they work - when they’re done right, of course. And while visually appealing, do they actually have any benefits to your website? writes, Ibrahim Kareem, Digital Marketing Executive, Soap Media

Highly shareable and attention-grabbing, infographics should have a strong place in your overall SEO strategy. But why and how should you go about it?

Why you need infographics

Reason #1: We love pictures

As humans, it seems we can’t resist a good picture. Anything visual and our brains light up like a firework display. Not only that, but we actually process visual information a whopping 60,000 times faster than text alone.

How often do you remember something someone said to you? Chances are you’ve already forgotten. Don’t worry, we’re sure you were paying attention, but when we hear information there’s actually only a 10% chance you will remember it three days later. Next time you forget to take dinner out of the freezer, pull that excuse out.

But, if that same information is paired with a relevant image, then there’s a 65% chance of you remembering it three days later.

Reason #2: We’re more likely to share

Visual content is 40x more likely to get shared on social media and infographics themselves are three times more likely to be liked and shared. Why? Because we’re visual creatures.

With so much content out there, it’s no wonder Internet users feel pulled between different websites, and it’s really having an impact. 55% of visitors will spend less than 15 seconds reading content on a webpage. So if you want to get them to convert, you’re going to have to hook them with something juicy.

How to make a successful infographic

So how do you make the infographic of your dreams? Here are five tips:

1. Think of an interesting topic

The first step to creating a successful infographic is to come up with a topic that resonates with your audience. Here are some places to source ideas from:

Keyword research - Check out Moz or Ahrefs Keyword Explorer or Answer The Public

Internal data - Ask your staff!

Common support or customer service problems - Customer support teams may face hundreds of support tickets each week, so a potential infographic could be a guide to organizing your ticket queues or an infographic disproving popular customer service myths.

2. How will you display it?

Now you’ve got a topic in mind, the second step is to think about how you will display this information in order to captivate your audience. There are a few options for you to choose from;??

Static - This is probably the most common kind of infographic you’ve seen out there. It’s optimized for viewing on pretty much all devices, desktop, mobile and tablets, and tends to be a long scrolling format. So what is it good for?

Visually explaining a service or product you offer

Delivering a message that is straightforward and informative

Easy sharing on your website and social

Motion: If you want to use animation and movement to present your data or information, then you should turn to a motion infographic. Motion infographics normally involve graphics in motion and are often combined with audio (like a voice-over) explaining what is happening or just music to match the tone. What are the plus points?

Going into a little more detail to explain something more complex

Having complete control over the viewing experience

Interactive: The most complicated of all infographics but probably the one that is the most fun. Just like the name suggests, an interactive infographic allows users to explore the data themselves which creates a more engaging experience for the audience. If you’re trying to create a narrative from a significant amount of data, then interactive is your best bet. It’s ideal for:

If you’re working with huge amounts of data or information

Going into specifics without forgetting about the bigger picture

Engaging your audience

3. Source your information

Here are our top tips for data gathering

Make sure you use reputable sources. For example, the AA is going to be more reliable for data than www.wesellgoodcars.com

Give credit where it’s due and reference each source

Don’t cram too much in. We know you want to educate your reader, but stick to the data that can be easily visualized

Try not to go off on a tangent. Stay focused on the single objective of your infographic throughout

4. Design

Now comes the fun part....

Text - Remember, this is an infographic, not a dissertation. Less is definitely more. Use text only to highlight key things and rely on illustrations like charts and graphs to backup your points. Make sure your font of choice is legible and clear

Colors - We may love pictures but don’t go overboard. Stick to a uniform palette of no more than five colors, and use negative space to your advantage. This will make it look less cluttered and provide clean breaks between nuggets of information

After many hours of creating and brainstorming sessions, you’ve got a beautiful and shiny new infographic sitting in front of you. Now what? It may be the most dazzling piece of content in the entire world, but the ‘build it and they will come’ strategy doesn’t work on the Internet. Having a strong content marketing strategy in place will help give it the attention it deserves.

Here are a few tips:

Start by posting on your own blog and social media. Do this regularly and at different times of the day and week to catch people who might miss it. Remember, the average lifespan of a tweet is 18 minutes, so make sure you’re posting regularly to be seen.

Come up with an outreach campaign that targets websites and publications in your industry. For example, the #KnowYourLemons campaign by Worldwide Breast Cancer reached 166 million people in just three weeks.

The world of digital marketing seems constantly divided on the subject of infographics - some say they’re fantastic and others say overdone. Us? We’re somewhere in the middle. As we’re visual creatures, infographics are a fantastic way to get people to engage with your content, but they have to be done well. But, if you follow the steps we’ve outlined in this article - by giving your audience a solution with a dash of entertainment - you’re bound to reap the benefits.